Due to the difficulty of operating automobile jacks, various forms of electric jacks have been proffered. With the development of such electric jacks has gradually come an understanding of some of the problems associated therewith. Due to the torque needed to lift something as heavy as most automobiles, direct drive electric motors are not reliable; therefore, reduction gear drive mechanisms of some sort should be employed, as a severe mechanical advantage must be utilized. Direct motor-to-jack drive, with only two gears, fails to accomplish this task. Electric jacks that are built into an automobile have not been accepted due to expense and the need to at least lift each side of an auto, if not all corners individually. If a system is chosen to individually lift each corner of the auto, even greater expense in design, production, and cost is encountered. Some have even entertained total encasement of a scissor jack type device.
Such an approach is flawed due to constraints in production of many sizes of jacks and encasements, as scissor jacks are designed for a particular loads and therefore vary in size. An additional failing of the designs that propose electrically driven, gear reduction jacks is the failure to properly design the coupling between the jack and the gear drive. Significant loads are placed upon such couplings, and failure can be catastrophic in terms of mechanical damage and risk of human injury. The present apparatus successfully solves the problems associated with electrically driven automobile jacks.